We’re all aware of how many feelings we can have, and how many we’re likely to feel in a day — anxiety, sadness, stress, anger, frustration, happiness, joy, contentment.
Notice how I took a while to list the positive emotions? So many people that I talk to can easily tell me about their negatives, but take a while to talk about their positives. In part, I believe this is because we’re more likely to feel the positives in the moment, and then let them go on their merry way, until we meet them again.
Negative emotions however, are much, much harder to let go of.
They’re kind of always there, lurking under the surface, waiting to strike. Society, and life, has taught us to repress these emotions, to not fully feel them. So they wait, and wait, and wait. We never really let go of them, so they find places to hang out in our bodies until we feel them enough to come to the the surface. We’ll get angry because of traffic, or because nothing is going right at work. We’ll get frustrated cause our coffee order is wrong, or someone looks at us the wrong way. We’ll feel anxious because of the long list of things that all HAVE to be accomplished immediately, but of course, never can be.
These feelings come out for a bit- and then what do we do? We shove them back under to get to the next part of our day- a meeting, picking up your kids from school, needing to make dinner, it just goes on and on. So they stay. They stagnate. They hold you back from feeling free.
Think about it like this. You make dinner one night, and there’s extra food leftover so you’re likely to put it in a Tupperware container of some sort, right? Now, sometimes you eat all the leftovers in the next day or two, the container gets washed, and you’re all good.
How many of you, after weeks and weeks of avoiding the task, get down to the business of clearing our your fridge? How many of you find containers of food that were made a while ago, and are now science experiments? Some of those containers are so full of gross stuff that you just want to throw out the entire container and buy a new one. Who wants to deal with scraping out all that junk, right?
Imagine now, if you will, those emotions I mentioned earlier. Think about those feelings you know you’ve kept locked up tight. Picture shoving that anger, anxiety, disappointment, and whatever else into a container and shutting the lid, tight. You close all that up, and then put it on a back shelf, gone but not entirely forgotten.
Think about the food again. What happens when you close up food in a container for weeks and weeks. It goes bad, right? Now think about all the years of repressed emotions you carry, that you haven’t let go of, that you’ve kept locked up pretty tight. Picture what that might be doing in your body. What might all that be doing to your Heart, your Spirit?
It’s not a pretty picture is it?
So how do you go about healing all of that?
First, you absolutely have to acknowledge it. You have to fully own, and be aware of those feelings that you have allowed to stay locked up. You have to look it in the eye, and be unafraid of what you’ll see.
Then, you have to let it out. You have to express it. Create time in your life to let these feelings out. Find a safe space- alone or with someone you really trust. LET. THEM. GO.
If you need to bawl your eyes out until you feel entirely wrung out, because of intense hurt that you experienced as a child (or an adult), then go bawl your eyes out. Have a plan for how to love and soothe yourself after- like a hot bath, or a long walk.
If you need to express that anger that you could maybe never express before- find a nice pillow, or even purchase a punching bag you can keep in your house. Let that anger out. Smack the pillow into a wall, or your bed, while you yell that anger out. If you get a punching bag- every time you hit that bag, yell what it is you’re feeling. Don’t say it in your head, say it out loud.
Whatever it is that needs to be aired out- find that safe place, give yourself time and permission, and let loose. Be free.
Let go of what is holding you back. I can guarantee you those old emotions are holding you back.
Let. Them. Go.
Your Inner Child, and your current Self will thank you. I promise you.
With Gratitude,
Robin
Robin Lee is a medical intuitive, author, mentor, gratitude advocate, and speaker who has helped thousands of people around the world understand the language of their bodies. Robin believes that our bodies innately know how to balance and heal themselves if given proper care and support. Visit her website and follow her on Facebook and Twitter, where she shares tips, tools, and techniques to honor our bodies and heal our lives!
Image courtesy of Flora Westbrook.
